Officer climbs balcony to save toddler locked inside KZN home

A little girl was removed from a two-storey home in Redcliff, KwaZulu-Natal, on Monday morning after she was left without adult supervision.

According to Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa), several residents on Orchid Drive in Redcliffe contacted the unit after they heard a child crying hysterically for several hours.

Child locked inside

“When a female officer arrived at the residence, she found the child inside the home. The officer established that the girl was locked inside the home daily by her mother and grandmother,” Rusa said in a statement.

Several Rusa officers were then deployed to the house to gain entry into the property, but they found all the doors and burglar gates locked.

A single door leading to a balcony was, however, found open, and an officer climbed onto the second storey and removed the child.

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‘Save my Barbie first’

“When Officer Angel Mbali spoke to the child, she first requested that her Barbie doll be rescued from the home. When the minor was handed her toy, she informed officers that her mother had left to meet a friend,” Rusa said.

“She added that her grandmother had also left after locking her inside the home without adult supervision.”

Following the rescue, officers interviewed neighbours about the whereabouts of the mother and grandmother, but no one provided contact details for the occupants of the home.

However, information was received that the grandmother worked at a local clinic, but when officers arrived at the clinic, they were informed that the grandmother had not reported to work but was seen in the vicinity of Redcliff on Monday morning.

Subsequently, the child was taken to the Rusa headquarters to be taken care of while officers attempted to locate her guardians.

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Grandmothers fetch child

Later in the day, the child’s maternal and paternal grandmothers arrived at the headquarters.

The grandmothers explained that the child had been left in the care of an uncle while the rest of the family were at the Verulam Magistrate’s Court for the bail hearing of the child’s father, who was arrested over the weekend.

“They further explained that an uncle was left at the home to care for the girl, and he had locked her indoors and left,” Rusa said.

The grandmothers confirmed that the child was five years old.